


That Day (for our family)

by VoidDragonQueen



Series: Single Parents AU [2]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: A lil family drama too, Alternate Universe - Human, Emotions, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Dynamics, Its mostly focused on loki and family, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Multi, Polythieves (Persona 5), Single Parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21855442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoidDragonQueen/pseuds/VoidDragonQueen
Summary: They can always count on one day being the same every year: their father retreats to look through old photos, in a depressive state most of the day. Loki and Goro have one last idea to try.
Relationships: Arsene/Captain Kidd (Persona Series), Arsene/Carmen (Persona Series), Arsene/Robin Hood (Persona Series), Captain Kidd/Carmen (Persona Series), Captain Kidd/Robin Hood (Persona Series), Carmen/Robin Hood (Persona Series)
Series: Single Parents AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1574548
Kudos: 15





	That Day (for our family)

Loki stared at the calendar, knowing the day was coming soon. The day Robin does nothing but mope about and look through pictures he shouldn't. He had done it every year since. Luckily, it was a day off for him, so work wouldn't make it worse. 

Loki felt a pang of guilt still left after ten of those years. That first year was hard for all of them, but he especially was not kind to his own father.

-

_Loki was gently playing with Goro while their grandparents watched over them. Their Nana had offered to watch them for Robin while he went to work, and of course Grampa had to come along._

_"How could our son turn out to be a terrible husband?"_

_"Richard." She gently scolded._

_"She was good for him and he chased her away. We raised our son better than that, Margaret. Now he's trying to play mother too?"_

_"He is doing his best, dear." And then in a harsh whisper Loki could still hear: "Don't start this in front of our grandchildren."_

_He sighed and shook his head, staying quiet. Not too long after, Robin had gotten back._

_"Thank you again, Mum. I hope they weren't too much trouble?"_

_"Oh, never, dear. We should get going. Bye kids."_

_Loki didn't say anything, just watching him make dinner for the three of them. He still wore his wedding band, rubbing it as the food cooked. He finally sat down, watching them. Loki narrowed his eyes at him._

_"Dinner should be done soon."_

_"It's your fault."_

_Robin blinked at him. Loki stood in front of Goro, angry. He didn't care if he got in trouble, he needed to yell at him._

_"Your fault why mom went away, your fault you're never home, your fault!"_

_"Loki-"_

_"You're a terrible parent!"_

_It was dead silent for a minute as they stared at each other._

_"I know." Robin said, his voice wavering._

_Loki froze as Robin put his hand over his mouth and started crying. That wasn't what he was expecting._

_"I'm sorry." He mumbled._

_Goro waddled over to him, tugging on his sleeve. When that got ignored, Goro climbed into his lap, standing up. He tapped his palm against Robin's face repeatedly. Loki started moving towards Goro to protect him if needed._

_"Shush, no cry, love you, shush." Goro babbled at him._

_Robin snorted, smiling in a way Loki had stopped seeing months ago. He wiped away his tears before he hugged Goro, sniffling._

_"Alright, message received, buddy."_

_Robin got up, carrying Goro in his arms._

_"Hey, you wanna help? C'mon, you just go like this." He murmured, helping Goro stir with the spoon._

_He looked really tired as they sat down to dinner, Goro in his lap. Loki kept quiet, waiting to be scolded._

_"Maybe we can go somewhere fun this Sunday?" Robin offered them quietly._

-

_Dad never scolded me for it, but there was a split between us from then on._

Loki rolled onto his side with a sigh. He could hear Robin on the phone.

"...Does he want to talk? ... Well, alright. Hm? I know. Figured I'd ask just in case, Mum. Love you too."

_Still?_

Loki finally got up, moving to the kitchen. 

"Good morning." Robin said as he put the phone back on its base.

"Hmph."

Robin didn't say anything, sitting down to go through some mail.

"I really hope I don't turn out like him when I get to be his age." Robin muttered.

"Like grampa? You? C'mon, Dad." 

Robin hummed. Loki sat across from him to eat.

"Well, I mean, it could happen."

"Dad, don't be ridiculous. Unless your planning to fix marriages for the two of us before we even hit college like he did for you, it's not gonna happen."

"Well, I suppose you're right. That certainly was an experience. I don't want to force anything on the two of you."

Loki opened his phone, going through his contacts. He didn't want to disturb the others, but clearly the two of them never get anywhere with Robin on that day. He had to figure out who to talk to about it first, though. And he absolutely could not let Robin know, or he might retreat further. Maybe he should just text them all at once.

"Where is Goro? He was really looking forward to that movie today." 

"Still in his room, probably."

**hey i need some help**

That got Loki a response immediately.

**Johanna: is something wrong? Is it an emergency?**

**Kidd: some of us can get there soon**

**dont!**   
**I... look, a certain... thing is gonna happen soon. actuly, is ther a way i can tlak 2 some of u? its hard to explain ovr txt**

Loki put his phone down as Robin went to Goro's room, knocking.

"Goro, are you awake in there?"

**Carmen: ill be done filming before 12 tmmrw. u can come over after school**

**K**

Loki couldn't hear what Goro said, but he came out sleepy and only partly dressed.

"Did you change your mind about the movie?" Robin asked.

"Movie? Oh! Wait!" 

Goro slammed his door, making Robin sigh. A few minutes later he came out again in his favorite Featherman tshirt, excited.

"Can we go right now? Please, Dad?"

"Don't you wanna eat something first?"

"I wanna save room for popcorn."

"Okay. We can go then. Oh, wait, brush your hair out first."

Loki watched Goro run in to grab the brush and detangle his hair.

"You sure you don't wanna come, Loki?"

"Pfft, and see your dumb nerd movie? No thanks."

"Loser."

Loki stuck his tongue out at him and Goro did it back and rolled his eyes. Goro practically dragged Robin out the door.

"We'll be back!"

"Bye."

  
Loki did not expect anyone at the school to pull out a chair across from him in the library, much less the student council president. Sae eyed him carefully as she sat down, textbooks placed beside her.

"What do you want, miss president?"

"You could be friendlier to me, now. Your father is dating my mother, after all."

"Mhm. Or you're spying on me for the teachers."

"Oh yes, sure. Spying on you doing the rules breaking act of studying. How far did you get on that practice exam, anyway?"

"Why? Stuck?" Loki snorted. "It's whatever. Doesn't even begin to cover what the recommended textbook does. Also like, I dunno? Six pages?"

"One more than I did." Sae admitted.

"That's a surprise. Probably not very correct on my end anyway."

"Wanna study together, then?"

"Willingly taking a hit to your goody two-shoes rep? Never thought I'd see the day."

"Like anyone would believe you."

Loki grinned.

"Got me there."

Loki moved a little closer, the two taking their time going over each other's notes. They argued a bit here and there on different essay questions, but other than that, it was smooth sailing.

"As much as you brush it off, you're actually pretty serious about this. I'm almost impressed."

"Mhm."

"... Something wrong?"

"You could say that. My father is... not in a good mood, and I know it'll get worse for the next few days."

"Oh? And why is that?"

Loki pressed his lips together. This was not something he wanted to talk about at school. Sae stared him down until he gave her a hard stare back. 

"Fine. How did you answer essay number three?"

"... I might have missed it. Where is it?"

They studied a little longer until they started to get headaches staring at it. They walked in relative silence, causing some whispers from other students as they passed. He glances at the keychain on her bag, recognizing it.

"Oh you like Featherman too, huh?"

"What? Me? Liking Featherman? What makes you think that?"

"Your keychain."

Sae looked slightly embarrassed, covering it with her hand.

"So you like it too, huh?"

"No. I just am unwillingly given obscure information from my brother about it at any moment and I cannot forget whatever dumb trivia he's spouted at me for weeks afterwards."

"Anyways!" Sae huffed, brushing her hair over her ear. "Where are you off to now? Home?"

"No, I wanna talk to Carmen and Milady and maybe some other adults. I'm headin' over to Carmen and Milady's."

"I'll come along. It's not like anyone would be home anyway."

Loki relented with a shrug. They started making their way to Carmen and Milady's. Despite it being his plan, he wasn't looking forward to this.

-

Arsene sighed, shifting Akira's textbooks in his hands to grab onto the handholds. Akira could never remember his books when there was an exam to study for. Akira had begged him over the phone to bring them to Carmen's house, since he, Ann, and Ryuji decided to study there for today. 

"Oh, hey, Lupin." Someone called to him.

Arsene turned to see Loki and Sae boarding the train, getting as close to him as possible.

"Hello, you two. Off to somewhere fun?"

"No, we're going to Milady's." Loki answered.

"Oh, did Akira forget his books again?" Sae asked.

"Hmph. Yes. I keep telling him to keep them in his bag for this reason. But it seems we're all going to the same place."

He hadn't forgot Loki asked to talk to some of them. Sae started talking to him about something else, keeping up with the conversation. He noticed Loki looked more distant than he usually is, passing up a few opportunities for sass in their conversation. 

_Must be about Robin._

He escorted the two of them up to the house, staying to lighter topics of school and plans for after the exams. 

-

"Oh, come in! Wasn't expecting you, Sae dear. Make yourselves at home. Can I get you kids anything?"

"Hi Carmen." Sae said, smiling. "If you have soda, I'll take some."

Akira ran over to the three of them.

"Hi Papa! Oh, and Loki and Sae."

"Akira, please remember your books. I am getting tired of bringing these over all the time." Arsene lightly scolded, handing the books to him.

"Thank you, Papa." Akira mumbled, giving him a quick hug.

"Do you need to dash off or can you stay, love?" Carmen asked from the kitchen door. 

"I can stay. Grading won't really happen until after exams."

Loki sat down on the couch, fiddling with his braid. He was half wishing he had stopped Sae from coming with him, half kind of glad that she was there. He looked up as Sae put a soda down in front of him before sitting down some ways away on the couch with her own. Arsene sat across from him, concern on his face as they waited for Carmen to come and sit as well.

"Whenever you feel you're ready, Loki dear." Carmen gently spoke.

Loki crossed his arms over his chest.

"I only really am turning to you guys because Goro and I have no ideas on how to help my dad. We've tried a lot, but he never wants to do much more than the bare minimum on that date."

"What date?" Arsene interrupted.

"...Dad and... Mother's anniversary."

Carmen perked up.

"I wasn't... good to him after their divorce, so I feel it's better to just stay out of the house the last few years." Loki stopped and sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I know that none of you could really fix it, but I just think it'd be better if he wasn't alone. Not that we leave him by himself, but just... not us."

"Loki..." Arsene started.

"What about your grandparents?" Sae asked.

"What about them? Nana doesn't really sound excited to hear from him and Grampa hasn't talked to Dad in years. Dad keeps trying, though."

"Okay, I didn't know, don't snap at me."

"I wasn't-" Loki huffed. "Look, forget it. It's not that big a deal, then, I just-"

"Loki, come on. We do care about your father." Carmen soothed, giving a warning glance at Sae. "It is a big deal to you."

Loki huffed, looking down at his feet.

"Anything we should know?" Arsene asked.

"He might try to shut you out. You might have to get pushy."

Carmen and Arsene moved to sit on either side of him, Loki tensing for a moment. He exhaled, leaning back into the couch. He felt better now.

"And if Dad gets upset, then you can say it was my idea. I just... he can be real stubborn too. He doesn't like admitting he needs help a lot of the time."

Arsene lifted Loki's hand with his and started rubbing his thumb over it. 

"We will figure this out with everyone, and we'll let you know, alright?" Arsene said.

"Okay. Then I can leave, and maybe-"

"No. Stay. I'm sure it would be easier on him if you were both there too."

"No." Loki bit his lip. 

"Loki-"

"I said something horrible and I'm sure he's reminded of it every time he sees me! I-"

The two adults wrapped him up in a hug. Loki froze, unsure.

"He loves you two. I'm sure he's forgiven you for it, knowing how much he would do for you." Arsene soothed.

"I blamed him for the divorce, and... I called him a terrible parent. It's never been the same between us since, so please, just let me leave when you show up."

"That won't solve it, and I'm sure you are well aware of that." Carmen said, kissing the top of his head. "I think it'd be easier on us too if you were both there. Does Goro know?"

Loki was trying very hard not to cry.

"We talked about it, but-! ... Fine. Fine you win."

Loki shakily exhaled. This was not how he was expecting it to go. But now that they agreed to help, he didn't feel so bad about the coming days.

-

Robin looked over at his clock, a sinking feeling in his chest. He knew what day it was, and he cursed himself for getting up so early, even before the sunrise, on today of all days. He sat up with a sigh, looking around the room. He knew where he kept the old pictures, but he felt that could wait until the kids were at school. He turned on the lamp and opened the nightstand drawer to see his old ring, picking it up.

"I should've stopped missing her by now." He mumbled, turning the ring over in his hands.

He sat there until he heard one of their alarms go off, getting up. He should at least see them off to school. He put the ring down on the nightstand before leaving.

"Good morning Dad!" Goro chirped as he shuffled into the kitchen.

"Mhm. Morning."

Loki and Goro were just eating cereal, Robin ignoring their stares as he sat down at the table.

"Do you two have everything for school today?" He asked.

"Yup. We should get going now. Bye!" Goro answered, kissing his cheek.

Loki and Goro grabbed their bags on the way out, Robin surprised Loki didn't complain about it. Oh well. He'd seen them off, and there was no problems like usual today. He can go through his stuff.

-

"Look, William, Carmen and Arsene are gonna come over, okay?" Loki told Goro.

They were waiting for the next train back home. They had just missed the first one because Loki had gotten caught up in some teacher's wrath for something he didn't do, this time.

"You think this is gonna work, Loki?" Goro asked.

"I don't know."

"...Hopefully he won't be too mad."

Loki sighed, dropping the conversation as the train pulled up.

Robin barely gave them a glance as they got in, photos in his hands.

"C'mon Dad..." Loki muttered.

He knew starting something with him would only get ignored. Didn't matter. They had a few more minutes before the calvary arrived. They moved in further, Goro starting up another useless Featherman fact list, which Loki was only half paying attention to while Goro was half-hearted about it. A knock at the door got their attention, Robin confused.

"Who could that be?" He muttered as he went to answer it.

He opened to find Carmen, Arsene, and William at the door.

"Robin! Hello dear! How are you?" Carmen chirped, starting to shove her way inside.

"Wait-" Robin started to close the door on them to no avail.

"Been forever since I've seen ya mate!" 

"I brought over a plate of cookies Akira and I made for you and the boys. Akira's been trying to branch out. Hope you like them."

"Wait! You-" 

But Robin was steered away from the door by Carmen, back towards the kitchen table. Arsene put the cookies on the counter as Robin hurriedly grabbed the photos from the table. Carmen handed Arsene some tupperwares to also put on the counter. William snagged one right from under him, Robin panicking.

"Wow, ya look really young 'ere." He said.

Robin quickly looked between the three of them, flustered. Loki and Goro were tense, not sure how he was going to react. Robin seemed to come to his senses, snatching the photo from his hands. 

"Give me that!"

He pressed them against his chest, angry. Loki mouthed a curse under his breath.

"Robin, are you okay?" Carmen asked.

"Robin, love. We jus-" 

"Why are you even here?" Robin huffed at his partners, standing up.

William, Carmen and Arsene looked at each other, and Loki started to open his mouth.

"I-"

"It was my idea, Dad." Goro cut him off, surprising them all. "They're here because of me. Because you are so upset every year and we know we can't help you. I just didn't want you to be so alone! You need help Dad! Why can't you see that?"

Robin looked so stunned, taking a step back. Loki tried to speak up, but Goro put a hand over his mouth. Robin sighed before retreating into his bedroom and shutting the door on them. Loki ripped Goro's hand off his mouth, glaring at him.

"Why'd you do that?"

"Because I'm tired of you taking the blame for everything that upsets Dad. Do you think that helps you?" 

"What would you know? You're his favorite out of the two of us! After I said that he hasn't treated me the same since!"

"I'm not his favorite and you know he tries to treat us both fairly. He loves us in different ways! Stop kicking yourself for things Dad has moved on from ages ago."

Loki stiffened, unsure how to respond. Goro sighed and sat down on the floor.

"Kids?" Carmen prodded gently.

"Go check on him." Goro said, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's fine. We're fine."

"You ain't fine." William protested.

"...Maybe this wasn't a good idea." Goro muttered. "Now Dad's gonna be worse."

"Goro-"

"You know it's true, Loki. Don't give me that. He didn't use to come out of his room and now he's back in it, all thanks to this shitty plan you came up with."

"You agreed to it." Loki huffed, turning his back on Goro.

"Well, maybe if you didn't antagonize Dad so often, he wouldn't be like this." 

"What? Are you saying it's my fault Dad is like this?!" Loki whipped around.

"No asshole! I think maybe if you stopped being shitty and actually talked to him once in a while he wouldn't be having trouble talking with you!"

"Boys!" Carmen scolded.

"You're the younger one so you wouldn't notice how he treats you compared to me!"

They got in each other's faces, ignoring the adults scrambling to break them up.

"He doesn't treat us any differently! You just don't care about anything Dad tries to do for you and insult him for it!"

William stepped in between them and grabbed them by the collar.

"Both of you, stop it!" He snapped at them.

Loki and Goro growled at each other while William dragged them over to the couch, sitting them down on it and himself in between them, still keeping a grip on their shirts. Carmen and Arsene stood in front of them.

"Look, we haven't known the two of you as long, but you cannot be fighting each other like this when you both know your father loves you both very much." Arsene scolded them, sighing afterwards. 

"We can't go check on your father while you're having a pointless screaming match over who your father's favorite is." Carmen continued. "He does not play favorites, and you both know this."

"Easy for you to say when you haven't known him long enough." Loki snapped.

"But he doesn't. And I have proof." Goro said, rummaging through his pocket.

He pulled out a folded piece of lined paper, handing it over to Loki. Loki stared at it.

"What the hell is this?"

"Look, I took it from Dad's drawer the other day. If he knew, he'd be upset with me. Just open it."

Loki unfolded it, seeing Robin's handwriting on it. It listed all of his possible interests, as well as two questions:

What does Loki want to do?, and Am I doing enough for him?

A lot of the interests listed had question marks next to them. Most of them were right, meaning he had been paying attention.

"Oh." He whispered. 

"I saw him writing it. He has a bunch of these. And he's even asked me, you know. But you don't really talk to me about things you like anymore either." Goro mumbled. "I just want you and Dad to talk to each other more."

They felt William let go of them, feeling the situation had defused. 

_Dad really is doing his best. And I'm not helping him._

"But... oh, forget it. You already know what you want to do."

"Just talk to Dad." Goro said. "He wants to help you."

Loki folded the paper back up and handed it back to Goro. Goro took it without comment. The three adults sighed in relief. 

"Alright, who should be the one to check on him? I doubt we'd all fit in that hallway." Arsene asked.

They heard footsteps, Robin poking his head around the corner. He stepped out a bit, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No need. I couldn't help but overhear." He mumbled. "Sorry about disappearing like that."

"Robin, we were worried about you." Carmen said, grabbing his other hand. 

"I mean, we did barge in here. So we should be apologizing to you." William said.

"Hope we didn't upset you too much. We just wanted to let you know we're here for you." Arsene added.

"Well, there's one thing I need to address first." Robin said, looking over at the two of them on the couch. "May I talk to my boys alone?"

Loki and Goro looked down at their laps as the other three leave the room. Goro glanced at Robin as he moved in front of the couch after William left it, holding the paper out to him.

"Sorry Dad." He mumbled.

Robin sighed, taking the paper from him. He knelt in front of them, concerned.

"Do you two really need to be arguing over who you think my favorite of you two is?"

"Loki brought it up."

"You little-!"

"Stop it." Robin scolded them. "Goro, stop instigating. Loki may have brought it up first but you don't need to keep bringing it up as a gotcha."

Goro bit his lip.

"Look, I appreciate you're trying to help. Really, I do. I just take this day every year to reflect, but... I see it's affecting you two badly. My seasonal depression gets bad around this time too, and that never helps either. I haven't had that much time to go get help for it. I really should make time. But the two of you should not be worrying about me. I'm your parent, not the other way around."

"But you're our only family left, Dad." Goro protested.

"You have your grandparents, too."

"But they don't like you."

"Goro." Loki huffed at him.

"That being said, I was happy to see my partners. I was just surprised, is all. And... talking about your mother is never easy."

"Hey." Loki said, getting his attention. "I'm really sorry I told you were a terrible parent back then."

"Don't be. You made me realize I wasn't paying much attention to you beyond the basic stuff that first year."

"Dad, that didn't make it okay. You were upset."

"Of course I was back then. I was doing everything I could for you two in my eyes, and yet you weren't happy. So I decided to do better."

Robin unfolded the paper, reading what was on it. Goro nudged Loki, and Loki gave him a little glare before sighing.

"Look, Dad... truth is, I don't know what I wanna do. I just wanna get through the entrance exams and then figure it out based on where I can go. But I see you're trying to figure it out based on what I like, so... thanks."

"You shouldn't limit yourself by some silly exam results, you know." Robin replied. "I can help you figure out how to do anything, hun."

Loki got up to hug him, Goro joining after a minute. Robin hugged them back. 

"And Goro? I do have to ground you for starting a fight with your brother and going through my private things without my permission."

"I... okay."

Robin ruffled up Goro's hair, standing up after they broke from the hug. He moved to check where the other adults went, coming back with them. William hugged him from behind once they were out of the hallway, making him blush.

"William..." Robin mumbled, leaning his head back on him.

"Don't be mad at 'em for inviting us over. We love ya, Robin."

"That means we do worry about you when we don't hear from you in a while." Arsene said, tugging the pair towards the table. "Especially when the holidays are coming up so soon."

"Ah, sorry. For that, and being so short with all of you earlier."

"We were being a bit too pushy, methinks." Carmen replied. "But here, I did bring dinner over so you didn't have to cook." 

Carmen kissed Robin's forehead once he was sat down at the table on her way to the counter. Loki and Goro joined them after grabbing a few more chairs for all of them. Loki sat next to Robin and leaned on him, Robin putting an arm around his shoulder.

"Y'know, I'm dyin' to try some of Akira's cookies. I know that boy can't bake." William teased.

Arsene rolled his eyes at him, but smiled.

"He tries. Haru has been trying to teach him. And you'll get your own plate of cookies soon, unless Robin and the boys want to share theirs with you."

"They're at least edible, then? I'm impressed."

"Oh, like you can do better, Captain." Carmen piped up. "You nearly set fire to your kitchen last spring trying to bake Ryuji a cake."

Loki looked up to see Robin smiling at their antics. He promised himself right there to talk to Robin more.

**Author's Note:**

> Something kinda sad but sweet, sorry


End file.
